


Cheaper by the Dozen

by EAB13



Category: The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23780980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EAB13/pseuds/EAB13
Summary: Stef and Lena are raising their large blended family on a vineyard in Sonoma County, California. Between their jobs and their children growing up, there is never a dull moment for the Adams Foster Clan. Follow the family through their ups and downs in this FanFiction novel.
Relationships: Callie Adams Foster/Stef Adams Foster, Lena Adams Foster/Stef Adams Foster
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Breath sawing in and out of her lungs, the middle aged, blonde haired woman stops to rest at the edge of the dirt driveway that leads up to the large, white farmhouse style home. Slowly, she ambles up to the house, letting the muscles in her legs rest from her five mile run through the Sonoma County country roads. Despite running these same roads every morning, she would never get over watching the sunrise streak through the country vineyards. Running was how Detective Stefanie Marie Adams Foster stayed fit ever since leaving the beat in the city of San Diego five years ago.  
“How was your run, honey?” Stef’s wife, Lena, asks as the blonde woman enters the house through the front door. Stef and Lena had met twelve years ago, when Stef was still married to her ex-husband. It had been love at first sight -- and there had been no going back. Although, the blonde woman never expected that they would end up living on a country vineyard with a small clan of children.  
“Great.” Stef says, going in to kiss her wife’s long, slender neck. Stef’s lips were magnetically attracted to her wife’s mocha colored skin.  
“Ah, ah, ah.” Lena tsks, side stepping to avoid her sweat-covered wife. “Not until you take a shower.” Lena begins cracking eggs into a large bowl, a playful light dancing in her chocolate brown eyes.  
“Yes, ma’am.” Stef smirks, ogling her wife of seven years’ ass as she heads into their bedroom that is just off of the kitchen.  
Twenty minutes later, Stef exits their bedroom, blonde hair up in a bun and dressed in jeans and a brown leather jacket -- her uniform as a detective for the Sonoma County Police Department. In the kitchen, Lena is cooking a pan of scrambled eggs while their oldest children help prepare the rest of the food for their breakfast.  
“Morning, B.” Stef says, pressing a kiss to her oldest son, Brandon’s, cheek as he butters slices of toast.  
Brandon was her son from her previous marriage to another cop, Mike Foster. Unfortunately, Mike had been killed four years ago after being shot in the line of duty. Brandon, now seventeen, seemed to have adjusted well. Lena had formally adopted him following his father’s death. Looking at her son now, Stef was surprised to see more of Mike in him than herself -- Brandon sported her ex’s dark hair and charming smile. He had Stef’s pale complexion and her rescuer mentality. Where the boy got his prodigy pianist skills, Stef had no clue.  
“Good morning, loves.” Stef greets her next oldest children, who are cutting up fruit to go with breakfast. Callie and Caleb are sixteen year old twins -- adopted by Stef and Lena, along with their other two siblings Sophia and Jude, three years ago. Their parents, Robert and Colleen Quinn, had died following an accident with a drunk driver and, after fostering the four children for two years, Stef and Lena knew that they would always be part of their family.  
“Mom, don’t forget I need you to pick me up after basketball practice tonight.” Caleb reminds Stef, running a hand through his messy brown hair.  
“I promise I won’t forget.” Stef says, stealing an apple from the cutting board in front of her son.  
“And we have our driver’s tests tomorrow.” Callie pipes in.  
“Yes. I took tomorrow morning off so I can take you both to the DMV.” Stef tells her daughter.  
“I can’t wait to have more drivers in this family.” Lena chuckles as she places the large pan of scrambled eggs onto the dining room table. “It’ll make carting around the lot of you a bit easier.”  
“Does that mean Callie and I can go to the mall every weekend?” Marianna, Stef and Lena’s adopted fifteen year old daughter, asks excitedly as she bounds down the stairs and into the kitchen.  
“Don’t you go to the mall enough?” Jesus, Marianna’s twin brother, snarks as he sits down and begins piling his plate with his mama’s scrambled eggs.  
“Shut up.” Marianna rolls her eyes at her brother.  
“Hey, be nice to each other, please!” Stef tries to calm the younger twins down. Jesus and Marianna had been with Stef and Lena the longest, other than Brandon. At the age of five, Stef had brought them home after they had been dumped at the police station by foster parents that claimed they were “too much to handle.” Their birth mother was a drug addict that had gotten pregnant at fifteen -- and she had chosen drugs over her babies time and time again. She had been a thorn in Stef and Lena’s side, always wanting to see the twins or extort them for money -- until she overdosed on cocaine and died.. Stef and Lena had decided to formally adopt Jesus and Marianna shortly after their eighth birthday.  
“Oh Callie, would you take us shopping?!” Sophia, Callie and Caleb’s fourteen year old birth sister, asks with her typical bubbly attitude.  
“We’ll see, Soph.” Callie tells her sister, sitting beside her and giving her a side hug. Looking at the two birth sisters, Stef was glad that she and Lena had been able to keep the four siblings together after their parents’ death. Not many families would have been willing to foster -- let alone adopt -- four siblings together.  
“Morning, Sam.” Stef says to the girl with short black hair trailing silently behind Marianna down the stairs. Samantha Bell was the newest addition to the Adams Foster clan. Stef and Lena had only been fostering the shy thirteen year old girl for a little over a month. Her mother had died of cancer in late November and the young girl had no other living family.  
“Morning.” The girl mumbles, pushing her short, black hair out of her crystal blue eyes.  
“Stef, will you go wake up the others?” Lena requests, referring to the five of their brood that were most likely still asleep upstairs.  
“Of course, dear.” Stef replies with a smile, placing her coffee mug on the table before heading up to their home’s second floor. Upstairs, she walks past Caleb and Jesus’ shared room -- trying hard to ignore the mess inside -- and heads to the largest room inhabited by their three youngest boys.  
“Boys! It’s time to get up!” Stef calls, knocking on the door. After a few moments of no response, Stef twists the door handle and lets herself in.  
“Jude, time to get up, bubba.” Stef says, gently shaking the twelve year old boy. He was the youngest of the four Quinn siblings, having only been seven when his parents died.  
“Okay, I’m up.” He grumbles, turning onto his back and rubbing his eyes. Satisfied that her son is actually awake, Stef moves on to the next.  
“Jaaa-aack.” Stef says in a sweet, sing-song voice to the ten year old boy sleeping on the bottom bed of the bunk bed. “Time to get up. Breakfast is ready downstairs.” The slumbering boy mumbles something intelligible, his face buried in his pillow and covered by his chin length brown hair. “Come on, bud.” Stef says again, placing a gentle hand on his back. Suddenly, the boy jerks awake, recoiling from Stef’s touch. “I’m sorry, buddy. I’m sorry.” Stef apologizes. Occasionally she forgot that, before coming to their home two years ago, Jack had been physically abused in each of the foster or group homes that he had been placed in.  
“I’m sorry.” The young boy apologizes, averting his gaze from his adoptive mother’s, as he puts his black rimmed glasses onto his face.  
“It’s okay, bud. Why don’t you go on downstairs for breakfast?” Stef gently urges the boy. He nods and then follows Jude down the stairs to join the rest of the family.  
“Corey.” Stef says, popping her head up to the upper bunk of the bunk bed.  
“I’m up.” The eight year old boy tells her, flashing his adoptive mother a bright, toothy grin.  
“Good boy.” Stef grins back to their most energetic child. “Now go downstairs.”  
With the youngest boys finally downstairs, Stef heads to the room that her two youngest daughters share. Flipping on the light, Stef’s eyeballs are assaulted with lasers of pinkness - pink walls, pink bedspreads, pink stuffed animals. I never should have let Lena pick the color scheme for this room, Stef thinks to herself with a chuckle as she kneels beside her five year old daughter’s bed.  
“Good morning, baby.” Stef smiles as she strokes her daughter’s wild, black curls. Just like her mama. Francesa Adams Foster, better known as Frankie, was Lena’s only biological child -- conceived via at home insemination using donor sperm.  
“Mommy!” The little girl squeals, wrapping her arms around Stef’s neck. Stef would never get sick of hugs from her babies -- even if the older ones had decided it was “uncool” to hug their mother.  
“Let’s wake your sister up.” Stef says, walking over to her youngest daughter’s bed with Frankie’s arms still around her neck. The two begin tickling the little three year old’s belly and soon they’re all giggling, the sound bouncing off the Pepto Bismol pink walls.  
“Good morning, my beautiful Bella.” Stef says, kissing her little cheek. Bella, or Isabella, was Marianna and Jesus’s half-sister by blood -- sharing the same drug addicted mother. Thankfully, Stef and Lena were able to adopt Isabella directly following her birth -- it was her birth mother’s dying wish that she be raised with her half-siblings.  
Stef deposits the five and three year olds in the chairs beside Lena and begins filling their little plates with eggs and fruit. It wasn’t easy, but Stef and Lena tried to get a healthy breakfast into all twelve of their children each morning. Between that and getting all twelve of them ready for and to school before eight a.m. each day -- mornings were exhausting for the two parents. Thankfully, the older kids were good at getting themselves ready independently. The biggest hurdle with the older kids was usually the arguing over the bathrooms.  
“Alright kids, cars are leaving in fifteen minutes!” Stef calls up the stairs forty-five minutes later, after cleaning up from breakfast. Lena was finishing getting ready for her day filled with vice-principal duties at the Sonoma County Charter school. Lena was a founding member of the charter and it was almost like another one of her babies.  
Like every morning, Stef would drive herself to the Sonoma County Police Station in her government issued, undercover 2012 Ford Taurus. Brandon would take their 2001 Minivan and drive Caleb, Callie, Marianna, Jesus, Sophia, and Sam to school. Lena would take Frankie, Bella, Corey, Jack, and Jude in the Ford Explorer that the family had bought last year. It was a crazy system, but somehow Stef and Lena made it work.  
“Have a good day.” Stef tells her wife, kissing her plump lips and running a hand through her wild, curly hair.  
“Call me if you have time?” Lena asks. Even though Stef had been off the beat since the family moved from San Diego five years ago, Lena still worried every time her wife strapped on her gun and went to work.  
“Of course, my love.” Stef smiles, stealing another kiss before heading out to her car. At the end of the long driveway, through her rearview mirror, Stef watches as each of her family members climb into the SUV and the Minivan, off to another day in their crazy lives.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey, boo.” The redheaded girl, Talya Banks, says to Brandon as she takes a seat at the desk behind him.   
“Hey.” Brandon smiles, leaning over and placing a kiss against his girlfriend of three years’ lips. Brandon and Talya had started dating very shortly after Brandon’s father had been killed. Brandon had felt so vulnerable in the weeks following his father’s funeral and Talya had been attracted to his raw show of emotion that was so rare for boys his age. Talya, who had lost her own father at a young age, understood his pain better than even his own mother had.  
“Do you have any plans this weekend?” The redhead asks her boyfriend, an evil twinkle in her blue eyes, as she tangles their fingers together.   
“Nope.” Brandon replies.  
“My mom and stepdad are going out of town. Do you want to come over?” Talya asks, her voice taking on a seductive note. Before the oldest of the Adams Foster clan can respond, their history teacher enters the room and begins taking attendance. Brandon turns back around to face the front of the classroom, his mind already racing with the possibilities that this weekend could hold.   
~~~  
Callie dips her paintbrush into the oil paint on her palette, studying the canvas in front of her. Art, specifically painting and photography, was Callie’s outlet for her emotions, her frustrations -- for everything she didn’t know how to deal with. The brunette girl brings the paintbrush up to the canvas and drags it across, streaking the white surface with red. Callie often found herself painting with multiple shades of red -- wondering if her canvases resembled her parents’ blood splayed across the highway asphalt.   
Callie still remembered the night that the social worker showed up at their house, telling the babysitter to go home and then helping each of them pack a bag. For the first few weeks, Callie and her siblings were in a small, dingy foster home with a family that had three other foster children. It was in that foster home that Callie’s twin brother, Caleb, had been punched in the face for not washing a pot correctly after dinner. Caleb’s nose was obviously broken, but the foster parents didn’t take him to the hospital or even help him spot the bleeding. Callie had held his nose with a dishtowel, waiting with him for the bleeding to stop.   
A month after their parents’ death, Callie, Caleb, Sophia, and Jude moved into the Adams Fosters’ house. Stef and Lena treated the four of them just like their own children. Marianna, Jesus, and Brandon shared their home and their rooms and their belongings like it was second nature. All four of them were beyond surprised when Stef and Lena asked to adopt them. Callie would always be eternally grateful to her two moms for keeping her family together.   
~~~  
“Hey, can I borrow five bucks?” Jesus asks his twin sister, reaching for her purse.  
“What? No. Use your own money!” Marianna tells him, yanking her purse away.   
“Come on! I forgot my wallet and I’m starving! I promise I’ll pay you back.” Jesus shoots his sister with his puppy dog eyes.   
“Fine.” Marianna rolls her eyes as she hands her twin brother a five dollar bill.  
“Thanks, sis.” Jesus tells her before hopping onto his skateboard and skating towards the cafeteria. Marianna shakes her head, knowing that he’ll most likely get yelled at for riding his skateboard on campus.   
“Mr. Adams Foster! Get off that skateboard before I take it away!” Mrs. Walker hollers over the busy cafeteria commotion, spotting Jesus with her hawk-like eyesight for rule breakers.  
“Sorry, Mrs. Walker!” Jesus replies, hopping off his board and getting into the lunch line, his empty stomach growling loudly.  
~~~  
Lena is eating her salad surrounded by tall stacks of paperwork when her cell phone rings. Her heart leaps into her chest and a smile crosses her face when she sees her wife’s face and name blink across the screen.  
“Hey, babe.” Lena answers the phone.   
“Hey, beautiful.” Stef replies. Lena can hear the smile on her face even through the phone. “How’s it going?”  
“It’s going. I’ve got two stacks of paperwork the same height as Marianna to get through before next week’s budget meeting.” Lena tells her wife. “I might have to bring some of it home this weekend.” Lena hated bringing paperwork home over the weekend, letting her job take time away from her precious family.   
“That’s alright, babe.” Stef replies. “I can take the kids out and play some touch football or something so you can get some peace and quiet in the house.”  
“I’d like to see you get Marianna and Sophia to play touch football.” Lena chuckles.  
“I guess we’ll see about that, huh?” Stef laughs with her wife. Lena’s laugh was one of Stef’s favorite sounds in the world -- along with each of her twelve children’s laughs. Stef had always been surprised by her heart’s ability to fit even more love inside it each time one of their children came to them.   
Twelve kids had never been part of Stef and Lena’s plan. They had been content in San Diego with Brandon, Jesus, and Marianna. And then Callie, Caleb, Sophia, and Jude had showed up in their lives. They integrated into the Adams Foster family flawlessly, like they had always been meant to be their children. And as each of their children came to them, they felt the same way. Their love just continued to grow.   
Once they were a family of nine, following the adoption of the four Quinn siblings, Stef and Lena made the decision to move the family to a less crowded area and into a bigger home. That was how they ended up in Sonoma, California in a large farmhouse style house on a vineyard. The owners of the vineyard had been looking for someone to purchase just the home and small bit of their acreage. The house was perfect for their, unbeknownst to them, still growing family.   
Lena had no problems getting in with the other founding members of the Sonoma Country Charter. And she slept better when Stef opted for a detective position versus a patrol position at the Sonoma County Police Department. Lena expressed her desire to carry and birth a child into this world and thus Frankie arrived into their family. It was in Sonoma that Corey, Bella, Jack, and Sam came to them.   
Their newest daughter, although still a foster child, Sam was the quietest of their many children. She had watched her mother die slowly in the hospital from cancer. The poor girl had no other family, which landed her with the Adams Foster family. Stef and Lena already knew they wanted to adopt the girl, but they also knew that she needed more time to grieve the loss of her mother. And that was why, twice a month, the thirteen year old girl went to the best pediatric psychiatrist in the county.   
“Should I pick up a bottle of red on my way home?” Stef asks her wife. Having twelve kids took a lot out of the two women and, oftentimes, they fell asleep by nine p.m. on opposite sides of their queen sized bed.   
“That sounds nice.” Lena purrs, her mind wandering to tonight’s possibilities. “But please don’t forget to pick Caleb up tonight after practice.”  
“One time! I forgot to pick him up one time!” Stef exclaims, in disbelief that her wife would continue to bring up the incident.   
~~~  
“Okay, everyone pair up.” The fourth grade science teacher tells his students, beginning to hand out the packets for today’s experiment. Jack Adams Foster glances at the other students who have quickly begun pairing off.   
“Jack, you can work with Alice.” The teacher tells the shy boy. “Just go over to her desk.” As the teacher gently rests a hand on his shoulder, trying to encourage the boy to move to the other side of the classroom, Jack recoils from his touch. “Jack.” The teacher says, a tone of warning in his voice. He doesn’t understand that Jack has been beaten bloody by half a dozen other men in his short lifetime. As he tries to move towards him, the skinny boy with glasses flips two desks in the teacher’s direction, trying to create a barrier to protect himself.   
“Jack Adams Foster, to the principal’s office now!” The science teacher exclaims.   
~~~  
“Five, six, seven, eight!” April, the captain of the Sonoma County Charter dance team counts as the rest of the dancers dance to the choreography that she came up with. “Back row, keep it to the beat!”  
Sophia feels her cheeks burn crimson. She knows April must be talking about her. She was the newest member on the dance team after much badgering from Marianna to join. She knew she wasn’t very good.   
“Come on, ladies. We need to be ready for next week’s competition!” April tells the team. “We need to do better if we want to beat Napa Public this year!”  
“Ignore her.” Marianna whispers to her sister. “She’s just mad because her boyfriend at Napa Public dumped her.” Sophia gives her adoptive sister a weak smile as April starts counting down again.   
~~~  
The squeaking of shoes on hardwood floors fill the gymnasium -- along with the scent of twenty, puberty-ridden teenage boys’ sweat. Stef watches from the doorway of the gym as Sonoma County Charter Stallion’s varsity basketball team’s practice comes to an end. Stef loved it when she was able to catch a glimpse of Caleb, one of the Adams Fosters’ more reserved and shy children, doing something that he’s passionate about.   
Caleb was often seen and not heard, especially when drowned out by the noise that the rest of his siblings always seemed to create. But on the basketball court, he was the loudest player. He played with all his heart, leaving everything on the court -- whether it was just practice or a championship game. That was something that Stef marvelled about her second oldest son.   
“Hey, mom!” Caleb says, jogging over to his mother fifteen minutes later in his street clothes.   
“Hey, bud.” Stef says, accepting a kiss on the cheek from the five foot ten inch tall boy. “Let's get home for dinner before there’s no food left.” The detective jokes as they head to her undercover car.   
~~~  
Back at the house on the vineyard, Stef and Caleb are greeted by the usual loud chattering of the family around the dining room table. Tonight was spaghetti and meatball night, and Jesus was already three slices of garlic bread into his meal.  
“Jesus, slow down before you choke!” Lena calls as Stef and Caleb take their seats at the dining table. Stef hands her wife a glass of her favorite red wine and receives an appreciative kiss on the lips.   
“Ew!” Twelve voices exclaim in mock disgust. Stef and Lena roll their eyes at their crazy children.   
“It is bath night, right?” Stef asks, seeing that both Frankie and Bella are wearing as much food as their eating.  
“I wouldn’t make spaghetti on any other night.” Lena chuckles, sipping her wine.   
Stef takes a moment to observe her family, gathered around the large dining room table. Jack, Jude, and Corey are talking about how to beat the latest video game that they're obsessed with. Marianna and Sophia are pestering Callie about going to the mall on Saturday. Brandon was helping Frankie cut one of her meatballs so his little sister didn’t choke, while Bella blabbed on aimlessly about unicorns and rainbows to the seventeen year old boy.. Caleb and Jesus were apparently challenging each other to who could eat the most in the least amount of time. Stef’s eyes fall onto Sam and she feels a pang of sadness in her chest for the young girl. She desperately wanted to gain the young girl’s trust, to make her comfortable in this crazy family -- and to make her a part of this crazy family.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: This chapter contains themes of self-harm

“Happy Friday, my loves!” Stef says to the thirteen people at the long, dining room table as she passes around two platters of her famous pancakes that she made every Friday morning for her family. “This morning I am dropping Sam off at therapy and then taking Callie and Caleb to the DMV for their driver’s tests. And then I will take all three of you to school for third period.”  
“Or we could just take the rest of the day off.” Caleb suggests cheekily before shoving half a pancake into his mouth.  
“Nice try. But if I have to go to work, you’re going to school.” Stef chuckles. She never understood where all the food that teenage boys ate went. If she had half their metabolism. . .   
An hour later, Stef is heading towards town with Callie, Caleb, and Sam in her undercover Ford Taurus. The first stop is Dr. Reeve’s, Sam’s pediatric psychiatrist, office.   
“I will be back to pick you up in an hour, okay?” Stef tells the thirteen year old girl after checking her in and getting her settled in the waiting room. The shy girl just nods. “I love you.” Stef adds, pressing a kiss to her foster daughter's forehead. Stef hoped that she would be able to earn the shy girl’s trust eventually.   
~~~  
A few minutes after Stef dropped her off, Dr. Reeve calls Sam back to her office.  
“Hey, Sam. How are you feeling today?” Dr. Reeve asks once she and Sam are both seated in the cozy office.   
“Fine.” Sam shrugs. She doesn’t really want to be here -- and Dr. Reeve knows that. But she was here to try and get Sam to open up about the grief she was feeling following the loss of her mother two months ago.  
“Have you had any more of your nightmares?” Dr. Reeve asks. When Sam had first come to Dr. Reeve, she had been experiencing intense and vivid nightmares replaying her mother’s death over and over again. They had gotten so bad that the thirteen year old girl was purposely trying to stay awake at night so she wouldn’t experience them. Three weeks ago, Dr. Reeve prescribed a sleeping pill to help Sam get some much needed rest without the side effect of traumatizing nightmares.   
“Not since you gave me those pills.” Sam replies. Sam wasn’t one to offer up more information than a question required. Dr. Reeve also knew this about the young girl.   
“Has anything good happened this week?” Dr. Reeve continues to ask Sam questions. She knows that this is the only way she’ll get the emotionally locked up girl to talk to her. At this question, the black haired girl just shrugs. “Come on, it doesn’t have to be anything big. Just something little that made you happy.”  
“One of my foster moms, Stef, she. . . she said she loved me when she dropped me off today.” Sam replies quietly.  
“Your foster moms have told you they loved you before, haven’t they?” Dr. Reeve asks.  
“This was the first time I feel like they really meant it.” Sam mutters, averting her eyes from the psychiatrist out of fear or shame.  
“Why don’t you think they meant it before?” Dr. Reeve continues.   
“I guess I don’t understand how they could love me. They don’t know me. I’m not their kid. I just showed up on their front porch one day. I don’t get it.” Sam tries to explain her feelings.  
“That’s the great thing about love, Sam. There are no limits to the love that we, as human beings, can feel.”  
~~~  
“Can I drive to school?” Caleb asks, his big gray eyes pleading with Stef.  
“No fair! I want to drive!” Callie argues with her twin brother.  
“Neither one of you are driving.” Stef tells them. “We’ve got to go pick Sam up and then I need to get you over to school before third period or your mama will have my head.”  
Half an hour later and the silver Ford Taurus pulls into the parking lot of Sonoma County Charter. After waving Callie and Caleb off to upper campus to get to class, Stef stops Sam to talk to her for a few minutes before sending her off to class as well.  
“Hey, sweets, how was therapy today?” Stef asks, leaning up against the hood of the Ford Taurus with the black haired girl.   
“It was fine.” Sam shrugs, her arms crossed tightly around her chest that is dressed in a black, oversized sweatshirt.   
“Okay.” Stef smiles, wishing that her foster daughter would share more information with her. “Why don’t I walk with you to class, huh? I’m gonna stop by and see mama, I mean Lena.” Stef and Lena were trying not to push Sam to accept them. They had already decided they wanted to adopt the girl, if she would have them. But, after watching her own mother suffer and die of cancer, they didn’t want to bring up the idea of adoption until Sam was ready -- they just had no idea when that would be.   
“So, we have two new drivers in the family.” Stef tells her wife as she walks into the vice principal’s office.   
“Now if only we had another car for them to drive.” Lena sighs. “I am not looking forward to hearing Brandon, Callie, and Caleb fight over the minivan.”  
“Maybe we could find a decent car for cheap.” Stef suggests with a shrug.  
“With what money?” Lena asks. “We haven’t had anything extra in the last three months.”  
“I know. I know.” Stef concedes. “Speaking of money, I should head to work. I love you.”   
“I love you, too, babe.” Lena says after receiving a quick peck on the lips from her wife.   
~~~  
“Hey, Mat!” Brandon says as he tracks his best friend down in the hallway. “I need a huge favor this weekend?”  
“What’s up, man?” Mat Tan, Brandon’s best friend since forever, asks.   
“Tayla’s parents are out of town this weekend and she wants me to stay over. I gotta tell my moms that I’m spending the weekend at your place, like jamming or whatever.” Brandon says, knowing his parents would have no reason not to believe him if he tells them that he’s spending the weekend playing music with his best friend.  
“Oh, yeah, that’s no problem.” Mat agrees. “So, you and Talya are gonna have some fun this weekend, huh?” Mat asks cheekily.  
“Shut up.” Brandon rolls his eyes at his best friend before heading off to his next class.  
~~~  
“Hey, baby.” Jesus says, going in to kiss his girlfriend on the cheek.  
“Jesus, no kissing at practice!” Emma, Jesus’ girlfriend of just a few weeks, chastises him. The two of them had met when Jesus had joined the wrestling team in an effort to help better control his ADHD. He was surprised that there was a girl on the team, but Emma had proved to be a fantastic wrestler and an extraordinary girl.   
“I’m sorry. I forgot.” Jesus says, giving his girlfriend his most charming smile.  
“I guess I forgive you.” Emma tells him, with a smile of her own. “But I am coming over this weekend and we are going to study for the algebra test that’s next week.”  
“Aye, aye, captain.” Jesus agrees.   
~~~  
“Congratulations!” All twelve of Callie and Caleb’s family members should as Lena brings out the cake she baked this evening after work to celebrate the twins getting their licenses.   
“Now we have two more helper monkeys to send off to do errands!” Lena exclaims in jest as she hugs her second oldest children.   
“And we will be happy to do it.” Callie replies.  
“Be careful.” Brandon warns. “They will run you ragged.”  
“Hey, careful mister.” Stef says, cutting into the cake and handing out pieces to the kids. “Or we’ll give them the minivan.” The blonde woman jokes. Brandon just laughs and rolls his eyes.   
“In all seriousness, you three better not argue over the minivan all the time.” Lena warns. “Or no one will be driving it.”  
“But then we would have to drive everyone around.” Stef mentions quietly to her wife.  
“Shh, if they hear you, we won’t have any leverage over them.” Lena says.   
With everyone distracted by the cake and the chatter, Sophia takes this opportunity to sneak upstairs. It wasn’t often that she would have the whole second floor of the farmhouse to herself. She knew that no one would notice her absence. No one ever did.   
Slipping into the bathroom that all the girls shared upstairs, Sophia locks the door behind her. The fourteen year old studies herself in the mirror. She puts on the “happy girl” look so well. No one knows that, beneath the makeup and the forced smile, there is a broken girl.   
As a member of a family of fourteen, Sophia often found herself overlooked. Her moms -- whom she loved so much for taking her and her siblings in and keeping them safe -- were always busy with one of the other kids. There was never enough time or energy for Sophia.   
And it wasn’t just her moms that seemed to forget she existed. Her own siblings were often too mixed up in their own music or classes or sports to see that she was unhappy. Sophia desperately wanted someone to notice her and the pain that she felt inside. But no one ever seemed to notice or care.   
From the pocket of her jeans, the brunette girl pulls the x-acto knife that she took from her art class today. She brings the blade to her wrist, feeling the cool metal against her skin. Biting her lower lip, Sophia presses down and drags the blade across her skin. Warm blood trickles from the cut and into the bowl of the sink, the bright red liquid standing out starkly against the white porcelain.   
After watching her blood drip down her wrist for a moment, Sophia moves the knife up her arm by a few centimeters and makes another, duplicate cut -- and then another. Finally, the emotional pain inside her begins to fade -- just a little. Sophia waits until the cuts on her wrist stop bleeding before she carefully washes her blood down the sink. Pulling her sleeve down to cover the fresh wounds, Sophia exits the bathroom and heads back downstairs to join her family once more.   
“Who wants to watch a movie, huh?” Lena asks just as Sophia is appearing at the bottom of the stairs.   
“Come on, Soph.” Stef says to her daughter, slinging an arm around the petite brunette. With a small smile, she follows the rest of the family into the living room. Just like she figured, no one even notices that Sophia has her arms tightly wrapped around herself to prevent anyone from seeing the still stinging cuts on her wrist.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: This chapter contains mention of self-harm

Chapter Four  
“I need the car this weekend!” Stef hears her oldest son, Brandon, say. Sometimes having twelve children and your bedroom right off the kitchen isn’t Stef’s favorite thing -- especially on a Saturday morning.   
“Marianna, Sophia, and I are going to the mall today. I cleared it with mama last night.” Callie retorts as Stef slips quietly into the kitchen, closing the bedroom door behind her so that Lena isn’t also woken up.   
“What kind of teenagers are you guys? Up before nine on a Saturday.” Stef asks her arguing children, preparing a pot of coffee.   
“Mom, tell her that I can use the car today.” Brandon says, crossing his arm in front of his chest.  
“Just because you’re the oldest doesn’t mean you always get what you want.” Stef tells him, turning around to face the teenagers. “Mama and I told you that we would take the minivan away if you guys were going to argue over it all the time. Figure it out yourselves.” While waking up to them arguing early in the morning was a pain in the ass, Stef was happy to hear them arguing like any regular old siblings. Stef and Lena often worried that their adopted children wouldn’t feel as comfortable as their biological children. This morning just proved that, at least for Callie, that wasn’t true.   
“That’s so unfair. Mama said I could use the minivan last night.” Callie complains.  
“Figure it out yourselves.” Stef repeats, pouring herself a cup of coffee. Brandon and Callie head back upstairs, both rolling their eyes and still arguing amongst themselves.   
“I need the car this weekend.” Brandon continues to insist as he and Callie reach the landing of the stairs.   
“What is so important?” Callie asks, standing with her hand on her hip in front of her brother.   
“Talya’s parents are out of town this weekend.” He tells her. “She wants me to spend the weekend.”  
“Do moms know about that?” Callie knows that Stef and Lena would never allow Brandon to spend the night at his girlfriend’s house without parental supervision. While they were open to the idea of their teenage children being sexually active -- they even provided them all with condoms -- they still didn’t necessarily condone it.   
“No.” Brandon admits. “Mat’s covering for me. They think I’m spending the weekend at his place. Can’t you take Marianna and Sophia to the mall a different weekend.”  
“I could. Or I could just tell moms about your weekend plans.” Callie says.   
“Oh, come on. Don’t be such a narc.” Brandon rolls his eyes. “Couldn’t you just, like, drop me off at Talya’s for the weekend? And maybe pick me up tomorrow?”  
“I guess that would work.” Callie agrees. “Be ready to leave by noon.”   
~~~  
“Oh, Sophia, this would look so good on you!” Marianna exclaims, running towards a flowy, yellow tank top and holding it up to show her sister.   
“I’m not really into tank tops.” Sophia lies, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. In reality, Sophia didn’t want to wear anything that would expose her wrists. She knew that she was only going to be able to wear long sleeve shirts and sweaters.  
“Why don’t you just try it on?” Marianna offers, shoving the top into Sophia’s hands.  
“I don’t want to!” Sophia says more sternly this time. Marianna is taken aback by the harshness in her usually cheerful sister’s voice.   
“It’s okay, Soph. You don’t have to try it on.” Callie says, taking the yellow top from her sister and hanging it back up on the shelf. “Let’s head to the food court before our movie starts.”  
~~~  
“I’m glad that you could spend the weekend with me.” Talya tells Brandon, pulling him in for a kiss by the front of his blue t-shirt.   
“Yeah, me too.” Brandon agrees breathlessly when the redhead releases him. Biting her lower lip seductively, Talya takes hold of Brandon’s hand and drags him up to her bedroom.   
“It’s so cool that your moms give us condoms.” Talya says, pulling a foil-wrapped condom from Brandon’s wallet. She pushes her boyfriend down onto her bed before peeling her shirt off.   
“Uh huh.” Brandon says, transfixed by the image of his girlfriend in only her sky blue bra.   
“We are going to have so much fun this weekend.” Talya purrs as she climbs on top of Brandon and straddles his waist.   
~~~  
“Can I go to a party with Wyatt tonight?” Caleb asks his moms as he loads the dishwasher following dinner. Clean up was slightly easier tonight since Brandon was gone for the weekend and Callie, Marianna, and Sophia were still at the movies.   
“Will there be alcohol?” Stef asks, wiping Frankie and Bella’s faces with a damp washcloth before letting the two girls run off to play a little before bath time and bedtime.   
“Probably.” Caleb answers honestly with a shrug. He had no desire to drink. If he did, he ran the risk of being kicked off the basketball team if he got caught.   
“At least you’re honest.” Lena chuckles, shaking her head. “Who’s driving?”  
“Wyatt said he would pick me up.” Caleb replies.   
“You’ll be home before curfew, yes?” Stef asks pointedly, leaning against the kitchen island beside her wife.   
“Yes, mom.” Caleb agrees.   
“And if you have anything to drink, you promise to call us instead of doing something stupid?” Lena inquires.   
“I promise.” Caleb tells his mother. Stef and Lena share a brief moment of eye contact, silently making a decision together.  
“Okay. Have a good time and don’t do anything stupid.” Stef tells her son, giving the young man a quick hug. Caleb had never given either of his mothers a reason not to trust him.   
~~~  
Two hours later, Caleb is leaning against the wall of someone’s living room, a red solo cup of beer in one hand. The brown haired teenager is watching as his best friend, Wyatt Casey, does shots with an attractive blonde from Napa Public High School. Wyatt, with his long dirty blonde hair and loner attitude, always seemed to have a pretty girl fawning over him no matter what. He and Caleb had met when they both started at Sonoma County Charter school as high school freshmen. Neither of them really fit in with the mainstream crowd, choosing instead to keep to themselves. The biggest difference between the two boys was that Caleb enjoyed playing on the basketball team while Wyatt preferred to smoke weed in his bedroom. Sipping at the beer in his cup, Caleb watches Wyatt down a few more shots before he stumbles over to him.   
“Bro, you are so far behind.” Wyatt half laughs and half slurs, pointing to Caleb’s still three-quarter full beer.   
“That’s alright. I’m just gonna stick with this one.” Caleb calls over the loud music to his best friend. He wasn’t a big fan of the taste of beer -- and he knew that someone would have to drive them home when this party ended.   
“Party pooper!” Wyatt cackles as the blonde girl shows up, tucking herself beneath his muscularly toned arm. “You gotta loosen up and have some fun, bro.” Wyatt tells himself, turning and disappearing upstairs with his arm still around the blonde girl.   
Another hour later, Caleb is sitting on the front steps of the house watching a few guys play beer pong when Wyatt comes stumbling out of the house. Caleb could tell that his best friend was two sheets to the wind. Hopeful that they could finally leave this party, Caleb hops up and follows his best friend.  
“You ready to go?” Caleb asks his best friend as they head towards his car parked on the dirt country road.   
“Yeah, let’s blow this popsicle stand.” Wyatt slurs. Caleb watches as it takes him three tries to unlock his car.  
“Hey, give me the keys.” Caleb says. “I’ll drive us home.”  
“Nah, man, I got this.” Wyatt argues.  
“No, you don’t. Give me the keys.” Caleb repeats, his voice more stern this time, as he reaches for his best friend’s car keys.   
“You can’t take my keys. They’re my keys.” Wyatt continues to argue. As Caleb continues to try and take Wyatt’s keys, his best friend brings his fist to Caleb’s face.   
“Shit.” Caleb swears, holding his nose as warm blood seeps between his fingers. His own temper flaring, Caleb launches himself at his best friend and brings his own fist to Wyatt’s face. As the two boys continue to beat each other senseless, a cop car pulls up and two officers peel them off of each other. Next thing Caleb knows, he’s handcuffed in the back of a cop car with his best friend.   
~~~  
“Did they finally get to sleep?” Stef asks her wife as she enters their bedroom, closing the door behind her.  
“It only took three story books.” Lena sighs tiredly. Some nights Frankie and Bella were as stubborn as their teenage children.   
“Does that mean you’re too tired for. . .” Stef trails off her question, calling her wife’s attention to her naked body laying in their bed.  
“Mhmmm, I think I can muster up some energy.” Lena purrs as she crawls into bed with her wife.   
“I kind of like when half the kids are out on a Saturday night.” Stef murmurs as she trails kisses along her wife’s long, slender neck.   
“It definitely has its advantages.” Lena agrees, her eyes fluttering as her wife’s kisses move down to her chest. Stef removes her lips from her wife’s delicious skin just long enough to pull her shirt off. The blonde woman replaces her lips onto her wife’s skin, this time focusing her attention on her perky breasts. Just as she’s about to take a pert nipple into her mouth, Stef hears her cell phone begin to vibrate on the bedside table.  
“Ignore it, please.” Lena begs, her fingers tangled in her wife’s blonde hair.  
“We have five kids out tonight.” Stef says, already reaching for the phone. “It could be one of them.” With a disappointed pout on her face, Lena watches as Stef answers her phone.   
“Okay. Okay. Yeah, I’ll be right there.” Lena listens to Stef’s one sided conversation, her disappointment growing as her wife begins re-dressing herself.   
“Is everything okay?” Lena asks, her disappointment turning into concern as she takes in her wife’s expression.  
“It seems that our son managed to get himself arrested tonight.” Stef answers.   
“How did Brandon end up getting arrested?” Lena asks in surprise.  
“Not Brandon.” Stef replies. “It’s Caleb.”  
“Caleb? Our Caleb got arrested?” Lena can’t believe her ears.   
“Apparently he got into a fist fight. I’ve got to go pick him up. So much for a romantic night with my wife.” Stef sighs, pressing a kiss to Lena’s lips before heading to go pick up their son.   
~~~  
Caleb and Wyatt are sitting in a small cell at the police station together, staring ahead at the wall in front of them, ignoring one another. Wyatt was slowly coming back to his senses, the alcohol in his body beginning to metabolize. Caleb’s blood is still boiling. He’s angry that he ended up in this situation but he’s more angry that his best friend was going to drive home drunk. Doesn’t he realize that he could have gotten himself or someone else killed?  
“I’m sorry I punched you in the face.” Wyatt apologizes, finally breaking the thick silence between them.   
“It’s okay.” Caleb shrugs.   
“Are you pissed or something?” Wyatt asks, not sure why his best friend is still mad at him even though he just apologized. “I just apologized.”  
“I don’t care that you punched me in the face.” Caleb spits out, standing up and pacing in the small cell.   
“Then what are you all uptight about?” Wyatt asks, raising his voice.  
“You were drunk. And you tried to drive home. Do you know how stupid you were being?” Caleb yells.  
“I was fine. It would have been fine.” Wyatt counters.  
“Oh yeah. Just like my parents were fine the night the driver that killed them decided to drive drunk?” Caleb yells angrily.   
“Your parents. . .” Wyatt trails off. Of course he knew that Caleb was adopted, but his best friend rarely ever mentioned his birth parents.   
“They were killed by a drunk driver.” Caleb admits to his best friend.   
“Hey, man, I’m sorry.” Wyatt apologizes, placing his hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “You’re right. I was way too fucked up to drive. It won’t happen again.”  
“I just don’t want to lose my best friend the same way I lost my parents.” Caleb says quietly. The two teenage boys share a quick hug.   
“Hey, trouble makers.” Stef says as the officer that arrested her son and his friend unlocks the cell. She would never tell her son this, but she had just heard their heart-to-heart -- and she felt even prouder of her son for looking out for his friend so well. “Let’s get you two home, shall we?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: This chapter contains themes of self-harm

“Mom, there’s some lady at the front door asking for you guys.” Jude tells Stef as she pours herself a cup of coffee on this cloudy, Monday morning.   
“Who would be here this early?” Lena asks, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Stef shrugs and the two women go to the front door.   
“Hi, how can we help you?” Stef asks, studying the woman on their front porch. She’s African American, about Stef’s height, and looks to be in her early thirties or late twenties.  
“Are you Stef and Lena Adams Foster?” The woman asks, studying them carefully.  
“Yes, how can we help you?” Stef repeats. She’s becoming leery of their unexpected visitor, her detective senses tingling.   
“I’m Corey’s mother.” The woman states. “His real mother. And I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be fighting to get my baby back.”  
“We adopted him.” Lena replies firmly. “He’s our son.”  
“He won’t be for long. I’m sober now. I’m ready to be a mother. And I want him back.” The woman argues, getting dangerously close to Lena.   
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to leave our property.” Stef steps in between the deranged woman and her wife protectively. “Or I will call the cops.”  
“This isn’t over.” The woman threatens before leaving the porch.   
“What the hell was that?” Lena asks once the woman has driven off their property.   
“I don’t know.” Stef says. “But I’m calling our lawyer.”

~~~  
Later that day, at lunch, Sam is sitting at a table in the outdoor commons by herself. There were only a handful of students in the outdoor commons today because it was cloudy instead of California’s usually sunny weather. Sam didn’t mind though -- she actually kind of enjoyed the cooler, cloudy weather.   
“Do you mind if I join you?” Sam turns around to see a Hispanic girl with dark hair around her age standing there with a brown paper bag lunch.  
“Not at all.” Sam smiles, gesturing to the table. “I’m Sam.”  
“I’m Ximena.” The Hispanic girl replies. “My family just moved here. Today is my first day.”  
“Are you finding everything okay? When I started here last month, I would get lost all the time.” Sam laughs.   
“It is kind of confusing.” Ximena smiles. “I have pre-algebra next. Do you know where the classroom is?”  
“I have pre-algebra next, too. We can walk together.” Sam offers. She knew what it felt like to be the lost new kid, and she wanted to help ease Ximena’s anxieties if she could.   
“I would really like that.” Ximena smiles again. Sam finds herself getting lost in the Hispanic girl’s brilliant smile.   
~~~  
That evening in the house on the vineyard, Stef is drying dishes in the kitchen after dinner. The kids had, of course, scattered quickly after helping clear the dining table. They usually did -- feigning excuses of homework to do. Stef didn’t mind that much. The kids helped out around the house a fair amount -- taking turns cleaning their bathrooms, keeping their rooms clean and, helping with yard work on the weekends. Currently, Jude and Caleb were the only two of their children that she knew were working on homework -- choosing to do so at the recently cleared off dining room table.  
“Didn’t they say they had homework to do?” Stef asks, referring to Jack and Corey who are now playing video games in the living room.   
“It looks like we’ve been played again, my dear.” Lena shakes her head, handing her wife the last plate to be dried before wiping her own hands.   
“What could they be arguing about?” Stef asks as the sound of the two boys squabbling travels into the kitchen.   
“I’ll go check.” Lena says, crossing into the other room. In the living room, Jack and Corey are on the floor, fighting over one of several video game console controllers.   
“Boys! Boys, stop it!” Lena raises her voice to get the attention of her battling sons. “What is going on here?” She asks, looking from boy to boy.   
“It’s my turn to be player one.” Jack states, clearly fuming.  
“But I’m a better player. So I should be player one.” Corey argues matter-of-factly.   
“Jack, just let your brother be player one.” Lena sighs exasperatedly. Sometimes it was exhausting trying to keep a handle on twelve kids -- actually, it was always exhausting.  
“You always take his side!” Jack shouts at the injustice.   
“Jack, you’re older.” Lena tries to reason with the clearly angry boy.   
“That shouldn’t matter! It’s not fair!” Jack continues to shout.  
“Jack, you need to calm down.” Lena tells her son sternly.  
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Jack shouts, swinging his fist. Lena gasps and flinches as Jack’s fist meets the wall beside her head, breaking through the drywall seemingly effortlessly.   
“Jack Adams Foster!” Stef yells, breaking everyone out of their shock. “Go to your room -- now!” Still seething, Jack stomps his way up the stairs and to his bedroom.   
“Corey, honey, why don’t you grab your backpack and work on some homework at the dining room table.” Stef tells her other son, pinching the bridge of her nose. Once Corey is out of the room, Stef turns to her still frightened wife. “Are you okay?” She asks the curly haired woman, inspecting both her face and the hole in the wall beside her.   
“Yeah, I just. . . I did not expect that out of him.” Lena shakes her head in disbelief.   
“He’s been a little jumpier than usual.” Stef mentions, sitting down on one of the loveseats in the living room.   
“He flipped a couple desks in science class last week.” Lena admits, sitting beside her wife. She had hoped the incident had been isolated -- but now she wasn’t so sure.   
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Stef inquires.   
“I guess I didn’t want to make it a big deal. The science teacher touched his arm. And we know how he feels about being touched. We can’t fault him for that either. I mean, he was beaten in every foster and group home he lived in before he came to us.” Lena explains.   
“I know.” Stef shakes her head. “It kills me that he’s still afraid to let us touch him. I can count on one hand the number of times he’s let us hug him.”  
“I think we should go up and talk to him.” Lena suggests. Stef nods her head in agreement and the two moms head upstairs.   
“Hey, buddy.” Stef says, opening the door after a few soft knocks “We wanted to talk to you.”  
“I'm sorry I got angry.” Jack says immediately. The ten year old boy is sitting in his lower bunk bed, hugging his knees to his chest. “I’m sorry I punched the wall. Pl-ple-please don’t send me away.” Lena’s heart breaks in her chest as their son trembles in fear.   
“Honey, nobody is sending you anywhere.” Lena assures him.   
“We love you, buddy -- no matter what.” Stef adds. “We just want to know what you’re feeling.”  
“I-I don’t really know. Sometimes I just feel really really angry.” Jack tells them. “Like the other day in science class. The teacher made me mad and I didn’t know what to do.”  
“What would you think about talking to someone?” Lena asks.   
“Like a counselor?” Jack replies.   
“Yeah, like a counselor.” Lena says.   
“That would be okay.” Jack agrees.   
“And maybe we’ll get you into a sport or activity that can help you channel your feelings.” Stef adds.   
“That could be cool, I guess.” Jack replies.   
“Okay. Do you have any homework to finish?” Lena inquires.   
“No, I finished it all before dinner.” Jack says.  
“Good boy.” Lena smiles. “We’ll be up to say goodnight in a little while.”  
~~~  
“Everybody is either asleep or still studying.” Stef announces as she enters her and Lena’s bedroom. Every muscle in her body is exhausted -- even muscles she didn’t know she had. “I cannot wait until they start going off to college.” The blonde woman mumbles as she collapses onto the bed beside her wife.  
“Only fifteen years until we’re kid-free.” Lena chuckles.  
“We’ll be so old by then.” Stef complains. “We’ll be too old for. . .”  
“For what? Sex?” Lena laughs. “Our children would argue that we’re already too old for sex.”  
“Should we prove them wrong?” Stef asks suggestively, her exhaustion forgotten as she looks her wife up and down. Twelve years together and Stef still couldn’t get enough of her wife.   
With a wicked grin, Lena rolls into her wife, pressing their bodies together. Her hazel green eyes dark with desire, Stef crashes her lips into Lena’s -- her hands exploring her wife’s every curve. Lena’s body responds to Stef’s touch -- goosebumps trailing down her arms, her breath hitching in her throat, arousal pooling between her legs. A moan escapes Lena’s mouth as Stef moves her lips down her slender neck, grazing her teeth gently against the sensitive flesh. The blonde woman ghosts one hand under her wife’s t-shirt, massaging her wife’s perky breasts.  
“Stef.” Lena moans softly, tangling her hands in her wife’s blonde hair. Her eyes flutter in pleasure as Stef pinches and toys with her nipples, sending shockwaves of pleasure straight to her pussy. With her free hand, Stef pushes Lena’s pajama pants and panties down -- giving herself full access to her wife’s most sensitive area.   
“I love you.” Stef breathes into Lena’s ear.  
“I love you.” Lena moans. She wants Stef to stop talking and start-  
“Mommy! Mommy!” The two women are jolted out of their mindless arousal, pulling the covers over Lena’s exposed southern half just in time for their five year old to come running through their door.  
“Hey, Frankie Bug, what’s up?” Stef asks as the little girl crawls into the bed between her and Lena -- just as Lean wriggles back into her pajama bottoms.   
“I had a scary dream.” Frankie tells them, snuggling into them both. “Can I sleep with you?” The two women make eye contact, having one of their silent conversations. It had been months since Frankie or Bella had requested to sleep in their bed and -- despite their hopes of intimate activity -- they hated to turn either of them away ever.   
“Of course, sweetheart.” Stef agrees, kissing her daughter’s mocha colored cheek and tucking her beneath the covers.   
~~~  
Upstairs, in the dark bathroom, Sophia is standing at the sink -- x-acto knife in hand. Her first cuts from last week had already pretty much healed. It had been torture for Sophia to wait this long. She had been craving the emotional relief that this activity provided her. The knot of emotional pain in her chest had been growing and growing over the last few days. She felt so overlooked by everyone in her life -- her moms, her siblings, her friends. No one knew -- or cared -- about the pain and desperation she was feeling. Sophia brings the knife to her wrist and presses down, hissing in a breath as the razor bites into her skin. Dark red blood flows from the wound and into the sink. She makes a second cut and then another. As her physical pain increases, her emotional pain begins to fade to the back of her mind.


End file.
